Sections

Calgary engineer finds fame with suit used in skydive from space

In this Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012 photo provided by Red Bull Stratos, Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria celebrates after successfully completing the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos in Roswell, N.M. Baumgartner's death-defying jump from a balloon 24 miles above Earth yielded important information about the punishing effects of extreme speed and altitude on the human body - insights that could inform the development of improved spacesuits, new training procedures and emergency medical treatment. AP Photo/Red Bull Stratos, Balazs Gardi

As a young boy growing up in Lake Bonavista, Shane Jacobs was always fascinated with the way the world worked.

His father and grandfather, both engineers, instilled his innate wonder.

And a handful of inspiring math and science teachers at Bishop Carroll High School helped him thrive in a unique, individually run program allowing him to work at his own, brisk pace of study.

“I guess I did always love physics, and learning about how everything around me actually worked. It was fascinating stuff.”

That curiosity, mixed with a wealth of academic talent and work ethic, ultimately led Jacobs to McGill University’s mechanical engineering program and later to the University of Maryland, where he earned a PhD in aerospace engineering.

One summer when he ventured home to Calgary, he worked on running-shoe technology at the University of Calgary’s Sports Performance lab.

But this week, Jacobs was temporarily pulled out of his quiet world of science ingenuity and made famous as one of the builders of Felix Baumgartner’s high-tech space suit.

The daredevil skydiver shattered the sound barrier last weekend, becoming the first man to reach supersonic speed without travelling in a jet or a spacecraft. After hopping out of a capsule at an altitude of 39,000 metres, Baumgartner fell at a speed of Mach 1.24 wearing only the space suit.

Jacobs helped build Baumgartner’s suit with a team from David Clark, a Massachusetts-based company that has designed air and space crew equipment for more than 50 years.

And while Baumgartner appeared to be in some trouble in the initial stages of the free fall, when he finally landed on his feet in the New Mexico desert, Jacobs and his team, who were on site, were thrilled and relieved at the same time.

“I was ecstatic, we all were. We were so pleased to see the suit had performed so well and that Felix had performed so well. It was great being such a big part of history.”

The suit was built with a long list of unique characteristics, Jacobs explained, which allowed Baumgartner to withstand huge ranges of temperature, atmospheric pressure and G-force.

At above 62,000 feet, liquids in the human body can turn to gas and expand dangerously, a condition called ebullism. But the suit maintains pressure around his body to prevent such expansion.

The suit was also made for a high level of mobility, so Baumgartner could exit the capsule and quickly move into a typical skydiving “delta” position during his free fall.

As well, the helmet allowed Baumgartner to breathe 100 per cent oxygen from various sources, including in liquefied form before launch, from the capsule’s system when he’s ascending and from a pair of high-pressure gas cylinders during free-fall descent. The visor has an integrated heating circuit to prevent fogging and icing.

With modifications, including mirrors and added mobility, the suit is expected to serve as the prototype for the next-generation, full-pressure space suit.

David Clark did not want to disclose the full cost of the space suit, or how much the Baumgartner team paid for it.